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Deep Throat (episode)
Pilot |next=Squeeze |season = 1 |}} "Deep Throat" is the second episode of the first season of The X-Files. Synopsis When Mulder and Scully investigate a possible conspiracy in the U.S. Air Force, Mulder meets a mysterious informant who warns him to stay away from the case but, undeterred, Mulder comes closer to the truth than ever before, only to have it snatched away from him. Summary Teaser NEAR ELLENS AIR BASE, SOUTHWEST IDAHO As a unit of armed Military Police prepare to storm a house, one of the building's owners, a Mrs. Anita Budahas, arrives at the scene and is told by the commanding officer that her husband has violated security protocol and stolen an armed military vehicle. After the unit break into the house, Mrs. Budahas demands that she be allowed to speak to her husband, who is found curled up in a corner of the bathroom almost naked, shivering, and covered with a skin irritation. Act One WASHINGTON, D.C. Four months later, Mulder and Scully meet in a downtown Washington, D.C. bar at lunchtime. Scully declines his offer of a drink, due to the early time of day. As the FBI agents start to search for a seat, they are observed by one of several men seated at the bar. At a table, Mulder briefs Scully on the disappearance of Colonel Robert Budahas, the man found by the military police earlier; he is, since 1963, the sixth pilot to have gone missing from Ellens Air Base, where he had been stationed. and Mulder meet for the first time.]] In the bar's washroom, Mulder encounters the man who was watching him and Scully earlier. The man reluctantly introduces himself as a potential government informer and warns Mulder to stay away from the case, stating that the military will not tolerate an FBI investigation. Mulder tries to follow the man out of the washroom but loses track of him. When Scully then approaches Mulder and asks if he is alright, he hesitantly replies that he is fine, puzzled by his strange encounter. FBI HEADQUARTERS Scully researches Ellens Air Base in a library within FBI Headquarters, finding that the base is known for attracting UFO buffs. In his apartment, Mulder answers a call from Scully, in which she complains about her discoveries, but he notices that his telephone is apparently bugged and that someone is watching his apartment from a van parked outside. He refuses to discuss Scully's concerns with her until their flight and quickly hangs up. MARRIETTE FIELD SOUTHWEST IDAHO The agents' airplane lands on a runway in Marriette Field. As they wait for Mrs. Budahas to answer the door, the duo remark on the sound of a speeding aircraft flying overhead. The agents question Mrs. Budahas, who is severely shaken by the loss of her husband and mentions that he started acting bizarrely prior to his disappearance. She also tells Mulder that neighbor Verla McLennan's husband similarly went "kind of crazy." At Mrs. McLennan's home, the agents see that her husband is picking hairs from his own head and using them as fish bait. Mrs. McLennan tells the agents that he began behaving strangely almost two years ago and guesses that his condition was caused by stress. She is highly respectful to and thankful for the Air Force but makes a snide comment to Mrs. Budahas, apparently appalled that she has brought the FBI agents there. Outside her own home, Mrs. Budahas provides a list of phone numbers she has repeatedly tried to call. Scully suggests that Mrs. McLennan's husband is suffering from stereotypy and that the pilots may be washouts from the Aurora Project, though these ideas are refuted by Mulder, based on the caliber of the pilots, particularly Colonel Budahas. In their motel, the agents confer about their attempts to speak with a member of the Air Force. Scully mentions that she has managed to arrange an appointment with a Colonel Kissel and, even though Mulder is initially doubtful of this arrangement, he starts to search for more information about the colonel. The agents confront Kissel outside his house, but he refuses to cooperate with them and demands that they leave. After he hurries inside, the agents are met by local journalist Paul Mossinger. He remarks on the abundance of "UFO nuts" in the area, seemingly skeptical of the UFO phenomenon, and acknowledges the noise of another aircraft passing overhead at high speed. Mulder refuses to divulge how his and Scully's investigation is proceeding, but asks Mossinger to suggest someplace where Mulder might talk to one of the aforementioned UFO nuts. claims she witnessed a UFO.]] At "The Flying Saucer" diner, Mulder and Scully meet a woman who identifies the noise of yet another speedy aircraft as an F-15 Eagle and remarks on the arrogance of the pilots. With prompting from Mulder, she shows the agents a series of UFO photographs arranged behind the diner's bar, claiming that she took one herself and recalling her experience of witnessing the pictured craft. Mulder agrees to buy a print of the picture from the woman – prompting Scully to teasingly call him a "sucker" – and asks about his chances of seeing a UFO himself, at which point Scully leaves in exasperation. Outside, she is studying a map of the area, worrying that it does not include Ellens Air Base. Mulder alleges to have already known the base would not be on the map, calling her a "sucker" in return, and hands her a hand-written map he has been able to obtain that does show the base's location. OUTSIDE ELLENS AIR BASE 6:04 P.M. The agents drive off the main road to the base and head up a hill, passing a military warning sign on the way. Mulder brings the car to a stop next to a chain link perimeter fence and then wanders up a grassy embankment while Scully, seriously annoyed and choosing to remain with the car, mocks his attempt to search for UFOs. At night, Scully is asleep in the car as a low rumble begins to sound but she wakens with a start upon hearing the vehicle's rear window shatter. Mulder hurriedly returns to the car, eager to show her something. Act Two 9:13 P.M. watch two strange lights in the sky.]] The FBI agents watch two strange lights dance above the base, theorizing about what they are. After the lights seemingly rise out of sight and collide, the agents notice an approaching helicopter and two teenagers, a girl and boy, who are fleeing the base. The agents chase down the two teens; all four hide under a tree until the helicopter flies away. 5:02 A.M. In a roadside diner, the teenagers, Emil and Zoe, eat while being questioned about the base. They recount their experiences at the base and Emil mentions an area called the Yellow Base that is supposedly a massive hangar surrounded by land-mines. Unbeknownst to the four, a car pulls up outside and the driver reports their presence to his superior, using obscure lingo. Emil continues demonstrating the way in which the aircraft he has seen at the base flies and jokingly reveals his thoughts about the nature of the craft. When Mulder shows him the picture he bought earlier, Emil claims it looks exactly like the craft he has seen. After Mulder drops Emil and Zoe at a residential property, humorously emulating the teens' slang, Scully expresses doubt about their claims. Mulder tries to convince her that there is a connection between the crafts at Ellens Air Base and the UFO that reportedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Ellens Air Base is supposedly one of six sites where parts from the wreckage were shipped, and Mulder believes the military is flying planes built with UFO technology. Scully attempts to poke holes in Mulder's theory and argues that it does not adequately explain the disappearance of Colonel Budahas, which Mulder ultimately agrees with. Back at their motel, Scully races to Mulder's room and relays news that Colonel Budahas was returned to his home the previous night. claims the man who says he's her husband is not really him.]] The agents drive back to the Budahas residence, where they find Mrs. Budahas upset and in shock. She insists that a man sitting inside, who looks identical to her husband, is not actually him. Act Three After Mulder manages to slightly calm Mrs. Budahas, he questions the man who she claims looks identical to Colonel Budahas but is not him. Mrs. Budahas confirms that almost each and every answer that the man gives is correct but, just as the man starts to get frustrated with the interrogation, Mulder asks him a question regarding a flight maneuver that he struggles with, claiming he cannot remember the answer. He steps towards Mrs. Budahas but she backs away, sobbing. After Mulder hurriedly leaves, Scully rushes out after him, demanding his input. Mulder admits that he thinks Colonel Budahas' brain has been rewired, using some kind of selective memory drain. Scully argues that the means to do that do not exist and suggests amnesia as a reasonable explanation. Mulder sarcastically says the technology powering the aircraft that the agents apparently saw the previous night doesn't exist either. Mulder and Scully continue to argue while driving along a highway, but are cut off and boxed in by two cars, out of which step several Men in Black. The men proceed to search the agents' car and confiscate all their evidence. When Mulder questions their motives, he is assaulted by one of the men. The agents are warned to leave or risk the consequences of breaching national security. In her motel room, Scully ends a phone conversation with a contact named Gail, finding that her attempt to track down one of the cars has been fruitless. Mulder suggests that the helicopter that chased Emil and Zoe out of the base was really after himself and Scully, and that the military not only knew the agents were coming but also "returned" Colonel Budahas as a decoy. Mulder then divulges to Scully that he was approached by the cautioning, secretive man in Washington, D.C. and that his own phone was being tapped, which he takes as proof of a huge conspiracy to cover up the presence of a UFO in the area. He and Scully passionately debate the consequences of such a secret. Scully voices her eagerness to leave, especially now that Colonel Budahas has been returned, which technically ends their investigation. Mulder makes a futile attempt to appeal to Scully's curiosity, before acquiescing to her wishes. Scully is soon alerted by the noise of their car, however, and hurries outside to see Mulder driving away. Emil and Zoe lead Mulder to a hole in the fence that surrounds Ellens Air Base. He is surprised when the teens decline to follow him, explaining that they've only ever gone in at night. They describe the area inside the perimeter to him and Mulder wanders off as Zoe shouts a warning not to pass the edge of some tall weeds that she knows about. Suddenly realizing they have forgotten to remind Mulder about the land mines, Emil calls out, but Mulder is too far away. Mulder later nears the edge of the tall weeds, where he waits until nightfall. After he walks onto a runway, a triangular craft speeds towards him, instantly slowing to hover above him, and then shines a dazzlingly bright, white light down on him before darting away. Mulder then notices two military vehicles pulling onto the runway and speeding toward him; after a short chase, he is captured by army personnel, who strap him to a gurney and then load him into one of their transports before driving away. Act Four Still struggling inside one of the military vehicles, Mulder is injected with something and held down until he apparently loses consciousness. 6:30 A.M. Scully, meanwhile, struggles to make a phone call to Washington, D.C. Leaving her gun in her room, she goes to the motel manager and asks to use his phone, which also doesn't work. The Manager tells her that one of the many things people commonly blame on the nearby military interference is the fact that phones are pretty undependable in the area. The military vehicle carrying Mulder enters a hangar where Mulder's gurney is offloaded from the vehicle. As it is wheeled through the building he, in his drugged state, sees men working on a large, spaceship-shaped object that is obscured behind a large sheet of plastic. and Zoe watch, Scully holds Paul Mossinger captive.]] Scully is surprised to see Paul Mossinger stepping out of her room. He claims to have been looking for her and saw that her door was open. After Scully hears a burst of static from a walkie-talkie in his car, she locks herself inside it. In the glove compartment, she finds a gun and an ID badge indicating that he works at Ellens Air Base. Although Mossinger breaks into the car and tries to grab Scully, she manages to pull his own gun on him. Emil and Zoe arrive and Emil tells Scully that they took Mulder to the base; Zoe adds that they waited all night for him. Scully demands that Mossinger find out where Mulder is, threatening to go to the national newspapers otherwise. In a medical facility, a light is shone into Mulder's eye, into which is then dropped a driblet of a silver solution. Scully and Mossinger arrive at the base's entrance, where Scully exchanges Mossinger for Mulder. Mossinger walks towards the base as Mulder staggers away from it. As Mossinger passes Mulder, he tells the agents that everything they have seen in the area is equal to the protection that the military gives it and that the agents are the ones who have "acted inappropriately." As they drive away, Scully asks Mulder if he's okay, but he can only respond with confusion as to how he got there. The agents visit the Budahas residence but Mrs. Budahas, noticeably discomforted, claims her husband is fine and quickly thanks the agents for their concern before shutting the door in their faces. Mulder is convinced the military have visited Mrs. Budahas and threatened her into keeping silent. Scully, eager to be done with the place, irritably tells him they know nothing more than when they arrived, planning to write that in her field report. FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, D.C. ONE WEEK LATER In an office at FBI Headquarters, Scully types up her field report, in which she recounts that Colonel Budahas was returned home – albeit in a highly bewildered state – and refuses to confirm Mulder's theory that the colonel may have suffered stress-related trauma as a result of flying aircraft using recovered UFO technology. She does, however, collaborate his account of having seen two UFOs in the sky over Ellens Air Base. She officially closes the case, before picking up the UFO photograph Mulder obtained at "The Flying Saucer" and staring at it. " have been here for a long time.]] While jogging at a local race track, Mulder meets Deep Throat – the secretive man who approached him in the bar. The man warns that the agents' lives may be in danger, because they have seen things that were not meant to be seen. As Mulder starts to talk about what he saw, Deep Throat interrupts with a reminder that he can provide information to Mulder, but only so long as doing so is in his own best interest – namely, in pursuit of the truth. Mulder says he did see something, but it has been taken away from him, erased. Although he neither confirms nor denies whether Mulder saw a military UFO, the man reminds Mulder, through a rhetorical question, that the reason those who believe in the existence of alien life on Earth are not dissuaded by all the evidence to the contrary – like Mulder himself – is that all the evidence to the contrary is not entirely dissuasive. Deep Throat starts to walk away but momentarily turns back when Mulder asks if aliens are indeed already on Earth. Deep Throat responds they have been on the planet for an extremely long time. Memorable Quotes "It'll be flying over Saddam's house, and he'll be all like... 'What? " : - Emil "Mr. Mulder, why are those like yourself, who believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life on Earth, not entirely dissuaded by all the evidence to the contrary?" "Because... all the evidence to the contrary is not entirely dissuasive." : - Deep Throat and Mulder "Mr. Mulder, ''they've been here for a long, long time." : - '''Deep Throat' telling Fox Mulder about Aliens Background Information Introductory Details *This was the first regular episode of the first season, preceded by the pilot episode. As such, it is the series' first episode to have the usual opening and closing credits, accompanied by the theme song. *This episode can be considered the second part of a mythology-centered two-part pilot. (X-Files Confidential, p. 37; "Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) "Deep Throat" may be regarded in such a way because, in common with the previous installment, it was written by Chris Carter and deals with the themes of a government UFO conspiracy. Indeed, Howard Gordon perceived the segments as a two-parter. (X-Files Confidential, p. 37) Story and Script *Chris Carter took the name Bob Budahas from someone he attended junior high school with. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *The character of "Deep Throat", introduced in this episode, was based on the infamous Watergate informer–later revealed to have been W. Mark Felt–who used the same pseudonym, particularly as depicted in All the President's Men–one of the primary inspirations of writer and series creator Chris Carter, and a big influence on the series' writing staff in general. (The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths and the Movies, p. 39) Another source of inspiration was Donald Sutherland's portrayal of "Mr. X" in the film JFK. (X-Files Confidential, p. 37) Although Carter thought up the character concept of Deep Throat while writing the pilot episode of The X-Files, it was only afterwards that he told the Fox executives he wanted to use the character in the series. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 31) *One major influence on this episode was literature regarding ufology. An aspect which came from this source was the notion of an Air Force base where UFO technology was reported, by some, to be in storage. Though the influential base was actually called , Chris Carter decided to name the fictional version Ellens Air Base. "I don't know why I didn't just go ahead and call it Nellis, but I had a high school and college girlfriend whose last name was Ellens and so this was sort of a nod to her, as are most of the characters in the show, come from high school friends, friends over the years." Carter did something similar with "The Flying Saucer" diner, as he based it on an actual diner named the " ", located outside of Nellis Air Force Base. Once again, he was unsure – years afterwards – why he used a different name for this episode's equivalent. "We were sort of making our own world," he observed. Carter also took Yellow Base from ufology, though without changing its name and although it was never publicly revealed to exist; it was rumored to be, in Carter's words, "a site of much goings-on with things alien at Nellis Air Force Base." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *Some concepts which Chris Carter took from UFO lore was the idea of Men in Black – who wore dark glasses and worked for the unknown government agencies – as well as brainwashing and memory-deletion of pilots who worked on the top-secret projects involving UFO technology. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *This episode was inspired, in particular, by a rumored project that the US Air Force purportedly had, called the Aurora Project. "In southern California, I remember sitting in my house and hearing sonic booms and having people talk about the Aurora Project, that there were aircraft that the air force was not telling us about, that were overflying southern California," reflected Chris Carter, "and this was a sort of nod to that, to the rumors that there were aircraft flying the skies that were using a sort of hybrid of scavenged, salvaged UFO technology." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *Chris Carter tried to use this episode to establish some concepts regarding the insidiousness of the government in The X-Files. "It was all an effort to sort of set up the idea that the government has knowledge about the existence of extraterrestrials and was willing to go to great lengths to protect it from people like Mulder. And that they were going to great lengths and wasting people's lives in order to utilize and experiment with the material." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *While plotting this installment, Chris Carter boarded the story for the episode. The scene in which Scully, in a car parked outside of Ellens Air Base, is woken by the vehicle's rear window suddenly shattering went through a revision shortly thereafter. "I had ... come up with something less than spectacular at this story point," admitted Carter, "and it was James Wong, who had come onto the show with Glen Morgan, who suggested I do something larger, which was break that window out." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *By having Mulder's memory erased through the administration of drugs, Chris Carter tried to depict the government as an interesting adversary, believing they were interesting as an enemy so long as they had "interesting tools and methods" at their disposal. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) *It was important to Chris Carter for this installment to show Scully as a strong female who didn't need her FBI partner to save her from dangerous predicaments. He wrote the scene in which she overpowers a security agent and forces him to drive them to Ellens Air Base because Carter wanted to demonstrate Scully's complete equality. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) *As a compromise to Fox Broadcasting, which wanted more closure to the story, Chris Carter added a voice-over narration by Scully to accompany her field report after it was filmed. ( , p. 103) *This episode's script went through five drafts. These were dated 1st, 9th, 14th, 20th and 22nd July 1993. Locations *At first, Location Manager Todd Pitson had a problem with the enormity of the various locations called for in this episode's script. "At the first production meeting," said Pitson, "I recall doing a quick mental calculation based on the twelve locations required for 'Deep Throat' .... Pondering these numbers, I questioned whether the Lower Mainland could successfully double as so many different regions and states and still retain a sense of newness .... 'Deep Throat' was huge in every way, establishing the show's dynamic from day one .... The location list for 'Deep Throat' speaks for itself, and took us from downtown Vancouver to the furthest reaches of the Lower Mainland." (X Marks the Spot, pp. 29 & 30) *The Washington, D.C. bar near the start of this episode was actually a restaurant in Vancouver called The Meat Market. Noted Chris Carter, "It was actually a much divier location than the production designers would have you believe." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *Ellens Air Base and the grassy areas immediately outside the base were represented in and around Boundary Bay Airport in Delta, south of Vancouver. (X Marks the Spot, p. 30) This site was also used as the hangar where Mulder, wheeled through the building atop a gurney, apparently sees a UFO. According to Chris Carter, the Boundary Bay location was "far outside of town, I think to the end of our ability to go without financial penalties." He also called the airport "a great location." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *An intersection between Airport Road and 80th Street, situated just outside Boundary Bay Airport, was the actual site of the checkpost shown in Ellens Air Base's last appearance. However, the checkpost itself was created by the construction department. (X Marks the Spot, p. 30) *A rural road in South Surrey was the filming location for an encounter Mulder and Scully have with a group of Men in Black. Relatively nearby was Hilltop Café, which served as The Flying Saucer roadside diner. However, transporting cast and crew to the café turned out to be controversial, as it was a time-consuming and costly move. (X Marks the Spot, pp. 32 & 31) Cast and Characters *Regarding the casting of Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat for this installment, Chris Carter contrasted the role to the Cigarette Smoking Man, setting out to find someone who could portray Deep Throat with a similar but different quality. Hardin's role in the 1993 Sydney Pollack movie The Firm essentially became his audition for the part and evidently won him the role. (The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths and the Movies, p. 39) Hardin enjoyed his character's introductory scene in this installment. "That was a fun scene and a funny idea: You trap some guy in the john and give him some life-or-death information in an interesting way, then disappear," commented the actor. (Starlog, issue #211, p. 29) *The role of Paul Mossinger was difficult to cast. Even though the part was not a big one and despite The X-Files production personnel usually attempting to cast as many performers as they could out of Vancouver, the creative staff ended up bringing Michael Bryan French up from Los Angeles to portray Mossinger, a costly and rare step for the series. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *Vince Metcalfe, who played Colonel Kissel, later guest-starred as General Groves in the Millennium episode "Matryoshka". *Andrew Johnston, who portrayed Colonel Budahas, returned to The X-Files as Agent Barrett Weiss in Season 2's two-part "Colony" and "End Game", as well as a Medical Examiner in the fourth season episode "Demons". He also appeared in Millennium, as County Coroner John Tasini in "Weeds" and as Principal Kramer in "TEOTWAWKI". *Sheila Moore, who played Verla McLennan, returned to The X-Files as Mrs. Dawson in the second season episode "Excelsis Dei" and also guest starred as Clea Bangs in the Millennium episode "The Well-Worn Lock". *Michael Puttonen, who played the Motel Manager, later appeared as Dr. Pilsson in the Season 2 episode "Sleepless", a Conductor in the third season episode "731" and as Martin Alpert in Season 4's "Elegy". He also appeared in Millennium and a single episode of The Lone Gunmen, guest-starring as Pathologist Curt Massey in both Millennium s pilot episode and "The Judge" as well as portraying a Coroner in "Siren", and appearing in The Lone Gunmen episode "Diagnosis: Jimmy" as Dr. Bromberg. *In this episode's audio commentary, Chris Carter states about actress Gabrielle Rose, "We got to use her in this first episode. I don't think she ever appeared in the show again." However, this is an incorrect statement. Rose, who played Anita Budahas here, later portrayed Dr. Zenzola in the second season episode "The Host". She also guest starred in Millennium s "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me", as an Aging Stripper, and "Saturn Dreaming of Mercury", as a Welcome Lady. *One of the Men in Black, who takes Mulder's gun and then assaults him in the back, was played by Tony Morelli. He ended up working for several years on The X-Files as the series' full-time stunt coordinator. Morelli was also the stunt coordinator for The Lone Gunmen s pilot episode and The X-Files: I Want to Believe. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Production from this episode.]] *At least seven different UFO design proposals were submitted for this episode. The seventh was a concept sketch including a bottom view, top view and end view of the craft. (X-Files Confidential, p. 102) *Much to Chris Carter's approval, Daniel Sackheim returned to The X-Files to direct this episode, having produced the series' pilot episode. "It was a natural arrangement and worked well," said Carter. "We were of one mind as to what the show is about." (X-Files Confidential, p. 37) According to Carter, the highly knowledgeable Sackheim brought a lot of energy to the filming and selected the lenses used for the episode. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *This episode was the first from The X-Files that featured the work of Assistant Art Director Clyde Klotz, who later married Scully actress Gillian Anderson, on 1 January 1994. *This episode had the smallest budget of any episode of The X-Files. The amount was slightly over US$1 million. In 2005, Chris Carter described this as "crazy in today's television terms." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *This episode's production commenced after an entirely different filming crew to that of the pilot had been put together. Noted Chris Carter, "We came back several months later with a whole new crew, a different director of photography, John Bartley." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) R.W. Goodwin, who oversaw physical production on The X-Files, found this installment's making was a particularly challenging period for the largely new crew. " Deep Throat' was a break-in period where everybody came to learn the kinds of demands of quality that we were making," he recalled. "They'd worked on several shows prior to ours that hadn't been as challenging or demanding. There was a certain level of quality that they had to step up to, and in all honesty, virtually all of the departments did that. But it was a learning experience." (X-Files Confidential, p. 38) Carter offered, "Bob not only ... put a great crew together, ... but also on this episode, he ended up becoming the sort of B-unit director and was running night and day, making sure that we got this episode done in 8 days." According to Carter, though, attempting to film the installment in such a limited time frame was difficult. He recalled, "It was a 24-hour operation for us, a scramble. We just couldn't do the work that we wanted to do and to do the show that we wanted to do with so little money and so little time, and I think that became very apparent." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *This episode was produced in July 1993. Though the first day of the shoot was planned to involve the Budahas residence, the building selected was about to receive a "facelift" when the production crew arrived there. Daniel Sackheim requested that further renovations be put on hold until after filming was completed. (X Marks the Spot, p. 30) The filming of the outing's teaser then proceeded, with Sackheim directing. "This was our first action scene," remarked Chris Carter, "and Dan ... I think really set the mood for probably the next five years of the show when he directed this action sequence." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *One of the shooting days was due to commence with filming the engagement that Mulder and Scully have with a group of Men in Black. Owing to the distance of the location for this scene from the usual geographical confines of the series' filming, the production department hired a large tour bus to transport crew members to the location, hoping to avoid having to reimburse crew for mileage travelled to the site in their personal vehicles. Watching the first crew cars arrive, Todd Pittson was surprised by how many there were. "One by one I counted heads, wondering who could possibly be on the bus, since virtually everyone had arrived by car," Pittson detailed. "When the bus finally pulled up in a cloud of dust, its door swung open and – with a dramatic flourish – the lone occupant, key grip Al Campbell, stepped out." The day's filming then went ahead with the scheduled scene. (X Marks the Spot, p. 32) *Boundary Bay Airport wound up seeing heavy usage by the filming crew. "We ended spending, I think, days and nights there," noted Chris Carter. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *To show a helicopter flying at night over Ellens Air Base, the production crew needed to acquire a special permit. This was because, in Vancouver, helicopter flight at night was not generally allowed, a fact Chris Carter was informed of. Getting the permit therefore took special effort by the crew and the producers. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *It was a sunny Thursday afternoon in July when the crew assembled on location and prepared to film the scene in which, at a checkpost guarding the entrance to Ellens Air Base, a bewildered Mulder is exchanged for a security agent. Todd Pittson related, "As day turned to night, we moved onto a runway apron and adjacent field, where we continued filming through the night. From the perspective of production, the scene became surreal as cast and crew scrambled to complete the last 'night' scene at 6 a.m. the following morning, just as the first rays of sunrise illuminated our hangar deep in the background. By then, everyone was staggering to follow Director of Photography John Bartley's single utterance, 'We'll shoot into the western sky... that'll buy us a few minutes." (X Marks the Spot, p. 30) One part of the episode for which Bartley endeavoured to avoid the sun was the scene showing Mulder being detained by military personnel on the air base. "This scene ... was done, I think, just as the sun was coming up ... John Bartley trying to rig the angles," offered Chris Carter, "so that we were not seeing too much of the sky where the sun was rising, shooting into the western sky, trying to keep it as dark as possible." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *The sequence in which Emil and Zoe bring Mulder to Ellens Air Base, he subsequently sneaks onto the base, and a UFO hovers above him at night was shot in a continuous filming block of time. R.W. Goodwin characterized this as "amazingly difficult." (X-Files Confidential, p. 38) He elaborated, "It was about seven different scenes we had to shoot. It was ridiculous." Furthermore, the scenes were shot out of chronological sequence, with the scene involving the UFO scheduled before the one involving the teenagers. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) In one interview, Goodwin remembered, "We started shooting ten o'clock Friday morning." (X-Files Confidential, p. 38) Another time, he recalled, "We started shooting about noon on Friday." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) Regardless of what time the filming started, Mat Beck offered, "It was a pretty hectic day." ("The Truth About Season One", TXF Season 1 DVD special features) *As they progressed with the filming, the crew realized they would have insufficient time, that Friday afternoon, to film the teenagers leading Mulder to the edge of the Air Force base. "We had to turn it into a night scene," continued R.W. Goodwin. "Then we had to turn it back into a day scene because we couldn't get it shot before the sun came out." (X-Files Confidential, p. 38) *The scene with the UFO that hovers over Mulder was originally written as a night scene but, because the shooting was starting so early in the day, the crew chose to revise it as a day scene. Realizing the sky would get dark before they could shoot the footage which takes place by the fence perimeter, the crew put the UFO scene back to being a night scene. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) *Chris Carter termed the UFO scene "our first real test as a sort of crew doing very elaborate special effects on a television budget." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) A lighting rig used as a practical representation of the UFO was essentially a kind of 1970s disco party light rig that shone some pretty funny-looking colored circles on the ground. ("The Truth About Season One", TXF Season 1 DVD special features; "Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Chris Carter recollected, "We ended up renting it from a party supplier and kind of re-rigging and adding to it." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) As the crew proceeded with the related scene, night wore on. "We got so busy with the UFO hovering over Mulder on the runway," reported R.W. Goodwin. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) *Due to the extreme amount of concentration the crew expended on the UFO scene, the sun was coming up by the time the production staff tackled the scene involving Emil and Zoe. R.W. Goodwin pointed out, "If you watch it, it looks as though it takes place at sunset, just before night. In fact, it was sunrise. It was us on Saturday morning out there all staring at each other, saying, 'What are we doing out here? " (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) The filming finally ended at eight o'clock on Saturday morning. (X-Files Confidential, p. 38; Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) *In the scene featuring Scully taking a security agent hostage, a van marked "Abramowitz Plumbing" can be viewed in the background. This was actually then Sound Mixer Michael Williamson's sound van. ( , p. 24) *This episode's final scene was filmed with long lenses. ("Chris Carter Talks About Season One Episodes: Deep Throat", TXF Season 1 DVD special features) Chris Carter was extremely relieved the episode's shoot did not surpass the eight days it was allocated, calling this fact "a miracle in itself." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Music *Whereas a temporary score had been used for the pilot and Composer Mark Snow had taken some influence from it for that episode, this outing gave him an initial opportunity to determine more how he himself would like the music to be. Explained Chris Carter, "This is really Mark Snow's chance to, I think, not follow necessarily the lead of the pilot score ... but this was Mark Snow's first real, I think, solo score and it also set the tone for the series, and I think his music is much more minimal here. Actually, there's much less music here than I think we came to use." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Visual Effects *Chris Carter and Mat Beck struggled to improve the visual effect of the two supposedly-flying dots of light which Mulder and Scully observe at Ellens Air Base. Carter later remembered sitting with Beck, "trying to make this effect look three-dimensional and better and we just couldn't do it with the time. I think we ran right up to our air date and we came up with what ultimately looked like some kind of hi-tech pong game." The UFO which flies directly over Mulder was digitally added to, as well. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Reception and Aftermath *Chris Carter and Daniel Sackheim were pleased with one another's work on this episode. Remembered Carter, "I wrote this episode which he thought was great and he did a wonderful job directing it." (X-Files Confidential, p. 37) Carter specified, "I think you can't underestimate Dan Sackheim's contribution to the show – the things that he brought to this ... mythology episode, ... the energy that Dan brought, the know-how, choice of lenses, shooting long lens here the episode's first scene between Mulder and Scully, just giving the show a look and a feel that would, I think, stick with it, that other directors would emulate .... It was really Dan I think who showed us what could be done." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *Chris Carter additionally thought this episode's cinematography was used appropriately. "This is actually a very bright show, as ''X-Files episodes go .... And an episode like this, it's not a scare-fest, maybe needed a little bit of a brighter approach was usual on the series." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, ''The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) He liked, too, the portrayal of Scully's confrontation with a security agent. "I thought that was a great scene where she gets in the car, and then he breaks the window. And Gillian was terrific in it, when she puts the gun up to him and says, 'Hands on the car. Do it! Do it! Do it!' It was great." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) Carter thought the UFO that flies over Mulder was depicted well, also. He clarified, "I think this effect was particularly good, given the restrictions we had." Another scene which won Carter's approval is when Mulder, having crept onto Ellens Air Base, is chased and caught by military personnel, Carter remarking, "Dan Sackheim shot it so well." Yet another scene Carter responded favourably to was the last one in this episode, of which he said, "This is probably the best set-up and most effective set-up for the entire mythology of ''The X-Files. It's just performed so beautifully by Jerry Hardin." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, ''The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *One problem Chris Carter had with this episode immediately upon viewing it was a polo shirt worn by David Duchovny herein. "Wardrobe problems being worked out all the time, I think once I saw that shirt I outlawed polo shirts on the show. It just wasn't flattering to Agent Mulder and not something I thought he would wear when he was off duty, as it were." A criticism Carter had in hindsight was the renaming of such aspects as Nellis Air Base and the "Little A'Le'Inn". He opined, "It would have been, I think, a lot better, in the end, to stick to the facts, as they were." Neither did he approve of the visual effect used to represent two fast-moving dots of light seen in the sky over Ellens Air Base, critiquing, "I think it's one of the worst effects we've ever done on ''The X-Files and it was because it was really a factor of time and money and at that point, in the early 90s, that special effects were still pretty crude and hard to do." Carter also believed this installment's plot lacks depth, observing, "''I think as ''X-Files stories go, this is a pretty slim story. This is a lot of running around, finding very little to plot. It's actually a very slim plot." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, ''The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *R.W. Goodwin described the sequence in which a UFO hovers above Mulder and a runway he is standing on as "my most vivid memory of the episode." (X-Files Confidential, p. 38) *Howard Gordon found this a successful installment. He observed, "The Army using alien technology is what made it most interesting. The whole Roswell thing and Ellis Air Force Base are the pillars of UFO mythology, so it was an appropriate and smart first choice for Chris. And then the idea of the government doing mind control... People really responded to Mulder's putting his neck on the line, seeking the truth and then getting taken himself and having his brain subjected to the same thing these pilots were subjected to." (X-Files Confidential, pp. 37-38) *This episode achieved a Nielsen household rating of 7.3, with an audience share of 14. This means that roughly 7.3 percent of all television-equipped households, and 14 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. ( , p. 248) It was viewed by 6.9 million households and 11.1 million viewers. ( , p. 248; http://anythingkiss.com/pi_feedback_challenge/Ratings/19930531-19930919_TVRatings.pdf) *When this episode was broadcast, persons most opposed to the selection of the Hilltop Café as a filming location noted that The Flying Saucer diner's exterior shot was so tight, the production crew could have simply opted for a diner in downtown Vancouver instead. (X Marks the Spot, p. 32) *''Cinefantastique'' (Vol. 26/27, No. 6/1, p. 18) rates this episode 4 out of 4 stars. The magazine goes on to enthuse, "The X-Files' second episode remains one of its best, shot through with paranoia and welcome doses of the show's trademark dark humor .... David Duchovny is excellent in this second episode, whether he's teasing Scully, or numbly trying to figure out what happened to him at the base. Gillian Anderson also warms to her part, especially towards the end, when the tiny Scully overpowers a security agent and holds him at gunpoint to effect Mulder's rescue." Cinefantastique also describes the sequence in which Mulder gets a close view of what is happening on Ellens Air Base as "a visually glorious scene of Spielbergian proportions." *In his reference book , writer Robert Shearman scored this episode 5 out of 5 stars. He critiqued, "This feels like a second pilot, much more confident in its pacing and its tone, with both Anderson and Duchovny giving the leads a depth that is surprising this early into the run. A skilfully scripted story of cover-up and paranoia, it sets up the overall themes of the show so well, it almost seems like a primer. That's all the odder when you consider it's actually a very atypical episode: it's concerned not with moments of horror, but of wonder ... and no-one dies. What's so great about Deep Throat is the way in which it balances its political themes with something much smaller and more intimate .... But the most haunting parts of the episode are the domestic .... Rather brilliantly, the second episode of ''The X-Files has the end offered us all the proof we need that the government is colluding with aliens in some form – but Scully hasn't seen the proof, and Mulder has forgotten it. It's like a mission statement. The audience now knows what our heroes need to rediscover." *Hereafter, ''The X-Files quickly gained a reputation for long days and longer nights of filming, a tradition begun with the production of this episode. (X Marks the Spot, p. 30) Also after the installment's creation, the name Bob Budahas became a recurring in-joke. "I don't know why but ... people didn't believe it was a real name," recalled Chris Carter, "and I remember some of the writers would tease me about it during the course of the show." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) .]] *The exterior of the Budahas residence, most clearly seen at the start of this episode, later regularly featured as the home of Frank, Catherine and Jordan Black in episodes of ''Millennium, with the notable exception of that series' pilot episode, in which another building was used. In-Jokes *A newspaper article Scully reads early in this episode is written by a "C. Carter". *At one point, Colonel Budahas tells Mulder and Scully his birthday is November 21st 1948, the same birth date as Dori Carter née Pierson, Chris Carter's wife. *A numberplate Scully checks, after she and Mulder encounter Men in Black, is CC1356. These are Chris Carter's initials, birth day and abbreviated birth year. *Scully's writing of her field report refers to an X-file about some of the events of this episode as "#DF101364", the initials and birth date of Dana Freedman, who is now known as Dana Walden. She worked on The X-Files as a publicist before running the 20th Century Fox television studios. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Continuity *When Mulder briefs Scully on the specifics of the case, the setup varies in this episode from the series' usual formula, as the setting is a Washington, D.C. bar instead of Mulder's basement office. *Following his introduction herein, Deep Throat went on to become a recurring character in The X-Files. Due to this as well as other factors, Chris Carter considered this outing highly defining, stating, "The episode ... further served to establish the landscape we were going to be working in with ''The X-Files: the introduction of Deep Throat, and the idea that the government knows even more than we established in the pilot and that they will go to any length to protect that information." (X-Files Confidential, p. 37) Additionally, Carter said, "''This show would also become important to the mythology .... Even though there were only four or five mythology episodes during the first season and there were twenty-five episodes, there was a connection between this first episode past the pilot and the last episode of the season, so that the show actually seemed like it had an idea where it was going; it had a structure and a concept of what it was trying to accomplish. So, I think that this is probably one of the most important episodes to the life of the series because it really set up – in addition to the pilot, or along with the pilot – it set up what the ultimate and larger quest for Mulder and Scully was going to be and that – like in "The Erlenmeyer Flask", which would be the final episode of the season – that anyone was expendable and in this case, it looked like even Mulder was expendable." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Deep Throat's historic pseudonym is never mentioned within this episode itself, being first used by Scully in "The Erlenmeyer Flask". *Chris Carter noticed that clothing was a continuity difference that goes some way towards distinguishing this outing from later installments of the series, partly because he didn't approve of the polo shirt Mulder wears in this episode. "I think that was maybe the first and last polo shirt we ever saw on ''The X Files .... I think the cut-off sweatshirt was soon to disappear from Mulder's wardrobe as well." Carter was also of the opinion that the wardrobe selection for Scully in this episode likewise "shows her wardrobe has been a work in progress." ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, ''The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) *The voice-over narration in this episode's conclusion is the first of many in the series, as such narrations became a recurring narrative device in later episodes. Nitpicks *When the Men in Black pull Mulder and Scully over and confiscate their evidence, they make sure to disarm the agents as well. When one of the black-suited men removes the magazine from Scully's pistol, it appears to contain only one bullet. *Chris Carter pointed out a mismatch between depictions of the sky, during the scene wherein Mulder is captured by personnel on Ellens Air Base. ("Deep Throat" audio commentary, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 1 - Abduction special features) Footnotes 1 No information to date "Deep Throat" can be found in the episode itself. However, the CD-ROM ''The X-Files'': Unrestricted Access dates the events of this episode to within August 1993, after the late July date of "Squeeze", as seen on a computer screen in that episode, even though "Squeeze" was produced and broadcast subsequent to this episode, and is arranged after "Deep Throat" on ''The X-Files'' Season 1 DVD. Cast Main Cast *David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder *Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully Guest Starring *Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat *Michael Bryan French as Paul Mossinger *Seth Green as Emil *Gabrielle Rose as Anita Budahas *Monica Parker as Ladonna Co-Starring *Sheila Moore as Verla McLennen *Lalainia Lindbjerg as Zoe *Andrew Johnston as Lt. Colonel Robert Budahas Featuring *Jon Cuthbert as Commanding Officer *Vince Metcalfe as Colonel Kissel *Michael Puttonen as Motel Manager *Brian Furlong as Lead Officer *Doc Harris as Mr. McLennen Uncredited *Charles Cioffi as Section Chief Scott Blevins *Cody Serpa as Josh Budahas *Carrie Classen as Leslie Budahas References Roswell; Ellens Air Base Category:X-Files episodes